| Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era – Official Reveal Trailer |  This thread is pages long: 1 2 3 4 5 ... 10 20 ... 30 31 32 33 34 · «PREV |
|
The_Polyglot
Promising
Supreme Hero
channeling capybara energy
|
posted August 21, 2025 12:54 PM |
|
|
We really doing Eldritch horrors now? I'm not sure I can play the game if this is serious. Really not a fan of horror
____________
Friend-shaped
|
|
Gnomes2169
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Duke of the Glade
|
|
posted August 21, 2025 05:10 PM |
|
|
The "Ice faction" was pretty much always going to be a kind of Lovecraftian horror faction, with the town screen featuring that Thing in the Ice and the fact that at least the early name of one of their units was literally a Shoggoth (aka, the main monster from the Mountains of Madness)... and I'm personally not bothered by tapping Lovecraftian horror in particular for a faction.
Unlike most horror monster stories and tropes, the Lovecraftian genre monsters tend to be perfect for an army scale. The Old Gods themselves are singular entities, but they have cultists, lesser horrors and ascendant monsters in the thousands, so it's not like the flavor weirdness of massing an army of werewolves, or an army of Jasons. They also aren't too sci-fi, like Forge or aliens in flying saucers would have been, despite being cosmic invaders... like the Kreegans. They use magic and rituals to summon, craft and control the horrors, the Old Gods are worshiped as gods, their cultists are as often sacrifices as they are masters of lesser beings, etc.
Plus, the Lovecraftian mythos is more than wide enough to make a full faction's worth of units, without needing the devs to make 6 creatures up in order to make the faction feel "Unique." Heroes has included some Lovecraft-adjacent creatures in previous entries (evil eyes/ beholders are basically a lovecraft-inspired D&D thing, and, frankly, that's what H3 got them from, H4 had the giant angler fish, H6 had the Faceless, etc), but a full faction should feel... new and unique.
____________
Yeah in the 18th century, two inventions suggested a method of measurement. One won and the other stayed in America.
-Ghost destroying Fred
|
|
MurlocAggroB
Known Hero
|
|
posted August 21, 2025 05:36 PM |
|
|
|
Plus plus, it's respectful to MM8. The final area of that game is the Plane Between Planes, an eldritch parallel world full of weird monsters. It makes perfect sense to introduce a faction from that game into the new game set in Jadame.
|
|
Stevie 
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
|
|
posted August 21, 2025 07:16 PM |
|
|
|
MurlocAggroB
Known Hero
|
|
posted August 21, 2025 07:29 PM |
|
|
|
I adore that big, stompy C'Thrax looking monster. I was worried that the faction was going to look too OC-ish instead of leaning on fantasy tropes, but they've come out swinging with straight-up Cthulhu. Very cool that they managed to keep that thing under wraps, too.
|
|
Oddball13579
Supreme Hero
Grandmaster of the Hunt
|
|
posted August 22, 2025 01:01 AM |
|
|
Galaad said:
Nice to see you, Oddie! 
Thanks! Just popping in to see how everyone is doing and what's going on.
Olden Era also drew me back in a bit lol
____________
"Just slide her down a bit farther. I could wear her like a hat." - Gnomes
|
|
MurlocAggroB
Known Hero
|
|
posted August 29, 2025 10:02 PM |
|
|
Based on this image, I'm guessing that Temple, Sylvan, and Dungeon are considered good while Schism, Hive, and Necropolis are considered evil.
That checks out thematically, and not having neutral is probably slightly better for gameplay. The most relevant part of alignments, the Altar of Sacrifice, makes neutral alignment strictly better. Still feels like a flavour miss to not have Temple and Necropolis be neutral.
|
|
Galaad
Hero of Order
Li mort as morz, li vif as vis
|
|
posted August 29, 2025 11:07 PM |
|
|
MurlocAggroB said:
Still feels like a flavour miss to not have Temple and Necropolis be neutral.
Nah it's good like this. Maybe some DLC factions can be neutral.
____________
|
|
Oddball13579
Supreme Hero
Grandmaster of the Hunt
|
|
posted August 29, 2025 11:19 PM |
|
|
I was kinda looking at it like Necropolis and Sylvan were neutral. Death and Nature are natural parts of life, there is no morality in death or in the natural world. They just exist. This was one thing—perhaps the only thing—I liked that came out of the Ashan era. That the necromancers were not inherently evil, and that death and rebirth were fundamental parts of the cycle. It was people like Sandro that turned the art towards evil.
The wizards viewing necromancy as heretical is a tale as old as time. And a very common trope within fantasy settings.
Anyhow getting back on topic, while not specifically stated, I feel like Sylvan and Necro are neutral. But for the simplicity of gameplay they have taken out neutral factions and are just sticking with the dichotomy of good vs. evil. Which is fine.
I still think they should be neutral.
But like Galaad said, maybe they will add neutral factions later.
____________
"Just slide her down a bit farther. I could wear her like a hat." - Gnomes
|
|
Ernsmk
Tavern Dweller
|
|
posted August 30, 2025 04:12 PM |
|
|
Probably a pipe dream, but would be amazing for them to bring back Heroes 2's themed UI for good/evil factions.
Could even have a unique theme for each faction.
____________
|
|
TrueMefista
Adventuring Hero
|
|
posted August 30, 2025 07:10 PM |
|
|
Oh yes, that is the thing they shouldn't have binned along with operaic themes (how come people disliked opera enough to bin?.. ).
Two UIs, both gorgeous.
Here,the only UI is rather plain.
|
|
MurlocAggroB
Known Hero
|
|
posted August 31, 2025 12:54 AM |
|
|
|
I do think the current UI is a placeholder, to be iterated on in EA. It's functional at least, but it is very bland right now. Apparently in the Discord (I'm not in the Discord so this is second-hand), the devs have had some interest in making themed UI designs for each faction, which might be why it's so bare-bones as that gets worked on.
|
|
Stevie
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
|
|
posted August 31, 2025 01:50 AM |
|
Edited by Stevie at 01:58, 31 Aug 2025.
|
Yea. Agree on the UI. It's not very evocative or immersive. But, it does feel very mobile/console friendly, so I'm not sure if that's in the cards and thus a possible explanation why it looks the way it does right now. But yea, it would be great if they took a second look at it and improved on the framework and positioning of UI elements. Personally, I really miss the old UI of H3, so it would be cool to have a similar version of that. It doesn't have to be quite the same, just the positioning of some elements, like resources at the bottom and more buttons to the right (doesn't feel too good to be right-handed right now  ).
MurlocAggroB said:
I do think the current UI is a placeholder, to be iterated on in EA. It's functional at least, but it is very bland right now. Apparently in the Discord (I'm not in the Discord so this is second-hand), the devs have had some interest in making themed UI designs for each faction, which might be why it's so bare-bones as that gets worked on.
Themed UI would be great. This is what AoW4 is doing and it works well, it gives more immersion to the factions you play. I think it's doable. And if they decide against it, there's still a lot of improvement that could go into a more generally fitting UI. Current one is functional, but not appealing.
____________
Guide to a Great Heroes Game
The Young Traveler
|
|
Oddball13579
Supreme Hero
Grandmaster of the Hunt
|
|
posted August 31, 2025 11:37 PM |
|
|
To me the current UI looks like they are reusing assets from Heroes 6 and 7. Mainly 6.
The end turn button being right in the bottom right corner as well as the all the other turn information being central around the hourglass in the corner throws me back to Heroes 6.
Now whether this is a placeholder for a as-of-yet unfinished UI or indeed the finished product remains to be seen.
I really do not like it. It is too simplistic and it throws me back to the Dark Times of Heroes 6. It is not very immersive and it looks like it was just kinda plunked down without much forethought. It also does not really blend into the game seamlessly? Its very overt and looks less integrated than other elements of the game. Just blue and gold.
Not too be an absolute glazer, but Heroes 3 had a very good UI design. It was with thought out and designed. The marbling on the edges and non-interactable parts made it look like real leather. The gold and jewel embellishes in the corners, the stylistic button visuals. The colour of the UI would also match what colour you were player as which was a very subtle thing but it made a very huge impact. Heroes 3 UI was integrated into the game seamlessly and the design choice matched the theme of the game very well.
The current UI of Olden Era just looks plain and uninspired. It's just a UI that is there, but not integrated into the game itself. I do hope they change it, but as it is serviceable so I will give it some grace.
____________
"Just slide her down a bit farther. I could wear her like a hat." - Gnomes
|
|
MattII
Legendary Hero
|
|
posted September 01, 2025 10:01 AM |
|
|
|
In terms of UIs, would people prefer faction-specific, orientation (good/neutral/evil) specific, or player-selectable.
|
|
Charrclaw
Known Hero
|
|
posted September 01, 2025 10:29 AM |
|
|
|
Ornate UI, give me map border as well. Minimalism out of my fantasy cool game.
|
|
MurlocAggroB
Known Hero
|
|
posted September 01, 2025 07:33 PM |
|
|
My preference would be each faction having its own UI style, but totally understandable if that's too much.
One thing they could do is push the UI into an astrology theme, to go with the constellation motif that the game has in a lot of places. Make that blue less "default blue colour" and more like the blue of the night sky on a full moon or something. Have it fade out softly along the bottom. Dot in some stars and connecting lines, softly to not be distracting. Other easy options would be to have carved stone menus, or scrolls like Heroes IV has. Really, the only issue is that it's so bland right now. There's no character to it.
|
|
Etharil
Shaper of Lore
|
|
posted September 04, 2025 09:48 AM |
|
|
|
|
|
